Farm Bill may void Marin pesticide use rules, group says

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A crew pulls weeds near the lagoon at the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael. While several Marin County communities have adopted policies restricting or limiting the use of glyphosate-based herbicides like Roundup , an environmental group says the 2018 Farm Bill being considered by Congress could void these and other local pesticide regulations throughout the nation. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost, file)

Local restrictions and rules on pesticide use — including several in Marin County — are at risk of being thrown out by the 2018 Farm Bill being reviewed by Congress, according to an environmental nonprofit organization.

Melanie Benesh, the legislative attorney for the nonprofit research and advocacy organization Environmental Working Group, said the House version of the Farm Bill would not only prohibit local government agencies from adopting their own pesticide use and sales restrictions, but also preempt any existing pesticide use policies. The group identified six local pesticide policies that would be affected if the changes are signed into law.

While there is some debate and uncertainty among local government officials about how extensively the Farm Bill would affect their policies, Benesh said the larger issue is local agencies would lose the discretion on how to best protect their residents, especially children, from the harmful effects of pesticides.

“It’s really taking the power away from your local lawmakers to say, ‘We don’t want this used on our parks or don’t want this sprayed on public government property,'” Benesh said Wednesday.

Novato recently joined other local communities when it announced in late August that it will no longer be using glyphosate-based herbicides, such as Monsanto Co.’s Roundup, on city-maintained property. California has identified glyphosate as a carcinogen.

Novato Mayor Josh Fryday said Wednesday that because the City Council didn’t adopt any formal rules, it will likely not be affected by the Farm Bill amendments. However, Fryday said he personally is open to looking at further regulations down the road — an option that wouldn’t be possible under the House-amended Farm Bill.

“On its face, it sounds like it’s a ploy to put corporate profits ahead of the health and safety of our communities,” Fryday said about the proposed amendments, “and in Novato we’re always going to continue to do the right thing.”

Congressional representatives from the House and Senate met Wednesday to begin reconciling differences between their two versions of the 2018 Farm Bill, which were approved in June. The current Farm Bill passed in 2014 is set to expire at the end of this month.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, voted against the House bill in June. California senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris voted to approve the Senate version of the bill, which did not include the restrictions on local control.

Local effects

The Environmental Working Group, which is based in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., released a map on Wednesday of local governments in California and throughout the nation that may be affected by the House amendments.

The map shows pesticide rules passed by six Marin County government entities would be voided under the House version of the bill.

This includes a 2013 ordinance by Marin County in which the Board of Supervisors annually approves a list of pesticides that county departments can use at about 150 sites including parks, county buildings and libraries. Other local rules at risk of being voided include those in Fairfax, San Anselmo, Corte Madera, Mill Valley and Belvedere, which have adopted policies on when pesticides can or should be used on city or town properties, according to the group.

Mill Valley Public Works Director Andrew Poster said while he has not read the Farm Bill language, the city’s pesticide use policies would not be affected by the bill, in part because the city does not have a formal ban on certain pesticides.

Mill Valley’s pest management policy includes a “goal” of using pesticides “only when necessary and select a pesticide that is both effective and least toxic.”

Benesh said while Mill Valley and other local governments may not explicitly ban or restrict pesticide use and sales on either public property or by private individuals, the Farm Bill amendments would still preempt these local rules. However, she said a local government can choose not to use or not provide funding to purchase these pesticides without having to adopt a formal policy or ban.

Several local cities and agencies including Larkspur, San Rafael, the Marin Municipal Water District, Mill Valley and Marin County have implemented some form of restrictions on the herbicide glyphosate.

Marin County Parks operations and maintenance superintendent Jim Chayka said the county has not used glyphosate since 2015. The county’s Integrated Pest Management Commission makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on the list of products the county should be allowed to use at 147 sites such as parks, county buildings and libraries, Chayka said.

“We responded to a lot of community feedback to eliminate the use of glyphosate,” Chayka said. “It doesn’t take a formal ban to discontinue using a product.”

San Rafael Public Works Director Bill Guerin said the city adopted a moratorium on glyphosate use on city-maintained property earlier this year. Guerin said they’re likely not going to extend the moratorium, but will continue to forgo using glyphosate herbicides, opting instead for a different herbicide, Lifeline.

“It’s not by regulation, it’s by choice,” Guerin said.

Health concerns

California listed glyphosate on its Proposition 65 list of carcinogenic substances in 2017, a description that the Monsanto Co. unsuccessfully attempted to quash in a recent state Supreme Court challenge.

Preceding the challenge, a jury had awarded $289.2 million to former Benicia School District groundskeeper Dewayne Lee Johnson who claimed to have contracted terminal cancer as a result of using Roundup.

Roundup, a weed killer made by Monsanto, carries a risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to plaintiffs suing the company in state and federal courts. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

There is debate on the health effects of glyphosate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states the herbicide has “low toxicity for humans” and is “no more than slightly toxic to birds and is practically nontoxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates, and honeybees.”

The World Health Organization found in a 2015 report that the herbicide is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” but studies by other researchers have shown varying results on health impacts.